An 86-year-old French woman who relocated to the United States last year to marry her long-lost love of six decades has been detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at a detention centre in Louisiana, according to multiple French media reports. Her son says she was arrested at her home in Anniston, Alabama, on 1 April, handcuffed at both hands and feet and taken away "like a dangerous criminal."
The story of Marie-Thérèse, originally from Nantes in western France, stretches back to the late 1950s, when she worked as a secretary at the NATO military base in Saint-Nazaire and met an American soldier named Billy. The two fell for each other, but when Billy returned to the United States in 1966, the relationship faded. Both went on to marry other people and raise families. They rediscovered each other in 2010 and, after both became widowed by 2022, rekindled their romance. Her son described the elderly couple as being "in love like teenagers." They married in 2025, and Marie-Thérèse moved to Anniston to begin her new life in the US, applying for a green card — the permanent residency permit that would have secured her legal right to remain.
Before the green card was granted, Billy died suddenly in January 2026, leaving Marie-Thérèse in an uncertain immigration limbo. Her situation quickly deteriorated. She reportedly entered a dispute with Billy's son over the inheritance, and according to her own son, was threatened and had her water, electricity, and internet cut off. ICE agents arrived at her door the day before a scheduled court hearing. Her son believes Billy's son may have reported her to immigration authorities, though he acknowledges there is no direct proof.
The US Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, confirmed to media that an "illegal alien from France" matching Marie-Thérèse's description had entered the country in June 2025 and overstayed her 90-day tourist visa. Her son contests this framing, saying she was lawfully awaiting her green card at the time of her arrest. The French foreign ministry has become involved, and Marie-Thérèse has received a consular visit from the French consulate in Atlanta. Her son says she has heart and back problems and warned she "won't last a month" in detention. The family's immediate priority, he said, is securing her release and repatriating her to France.
The case has drawn wide attention as a human illustration of the sweeping immigration enforcement push that has defined Donald Trump's second term in office. Since early 2025, ICE's budget and mandate have been significantly expanded as part of the administration's mass deportation initiative, which has resulted in the detention and removal of thousands of people across the country, including some, like Marie-Thérèse, with no prior criminal record. "It's like a bad American film," her son told French newspaper Ouest-France. "Every morning I wake up and tell myself none of it is true, that it was just a nightmare."